What's so bad about teaching a girl Torah?
Where did our notion that girls shouldn't learn Torah originate?
(ד) ... רבי אליעזר אומר, כל המלמד את בתו תורה, כאלו מלמדה תפלות. ...
(4) ... Rabbi Eli'ezer says: Whoever teaches his daughter Torah is considered as if he taught her foolishness. ...
Rabbi Eliezer, or Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, was one of the most prominent tannaim (early sages). He lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries, and is the sixth most frequently mentioned sage in the Mishnah. He is depicted as being very severe and somewhat domineering with his pupils and coleagues, and a central feature of his teaching was a strict devotion to tradition.
Why might Rabbi Eliezer hold the opinion cited in this Mishnah?
(ד) אינה מספקת לשתות עד שפניה מוריקות ועיניה בולטות והיא מתמלאת גידין, והם אומרים הוציאוה הוציאוה, שלא תטמא את העזרה. אם יש לה זכות, היתה תולה לה. יש זכות תולה שנה אחת, יש זכות תולה שתי שנים, יש זכות תולה שלש שנים. מכאן אומר בן עזאי, חיב אדם ללמד את בתו תורה, שאם תשתה, תדע שהזכות תולה לה. רבי אליעזר אומר, כל המלמד את בתו תורה, כאלו מלמדה תפלות. רבי יהושע אומר, רוצה אשה בקב ותפלות מתשעה קבין ופרישות. הוא היה אומר, חסיד שוטה, ורשע ערום, ואשה פרושה, ומכות פרושין, הרי אלו מכלי עולם.
(4) She barely finishes drinking before her face becomes green, her eyes bulge, and she [seems] filled with sinews (or "veins"), and they [the priests] say, "remove her, remove her!" so she does not defile the courtyard. If she has merit, it [the effects described above] would be suspended for her. There is merit that suspends for one year, there is merit that suspends for two years, there is merit that suspends for three years. From here Ben Azai says: A man is obligated to teach his daughter Torah, for if she drinks [as a suspected-adulteress], she will know that the merit suspends it for her. Rabbi Eli'ezer says: Whoever teaches his daughter Torah is considered as if he taught her foolishness. Rabbi Yehoshua says: A woman desires a kav and foolishness more than nine kavs and abstinence. He would say: A foolish pious man, a cunning evil man, an [excessively] abstinent woman, and the self-flagellations of ascetics, all these destroy the world.
A woman can impact her own outcome.
What gives a woman merit?
What might account for the difference of opinion between Ben Azai and Rabbi Eliezer?
How might this argument impact someone's thinking about teaching women Torah?